The present invention relates to the art of magnetic field gradient generation. It finds particular application in conjunction with establishing gradient magnetic fields in magnetic resonance imaging techniques and will be described with particular reference thereto. It is to be appreciated, however, that the invention will also find application in spectroscopy and other processes and apparatus in which accurately predictable magnetic field gradients are established or maintained.
In magnetic resonance imaging, a uniform magnetic field is created through an examination region in which a subject to be examined is disposed. A series of radio frequency pulses and magnetic field gradients are applied to the examination region. Gradient fields are conventionally applied as a series of gradient pulses with preselected profiles. These pulses excite magnetic resonance, phase and frequency encode the resonance, and cause phase and frequency encoded magnetic resonance signals to be emitted.
More specifically, the gradient magnetic pulses are applied to select and encode the magnetic resonance signals. In some embodiments, the magnetic field gradients are applied to select one or more planes or slices to be imaged. Gradient field pulses are also applied for selectively modifying the uniform magnetic field to encode frequency and phase into the magnetization, hence the resonance signals in order to identify a spatial location.
The magnetic resonance signals are then processed to generate two or three dimensional image representations of a portion of the subject in the examination region. The accuracy of the resultant image representation, among other factors, is dependent upon the accuracy with which the actually applied magnetic field gradient pulses conform to selected gradient pulse profiles.
Heretofore, linear magnetic filed gradients have been produced by cylindrical gradient field coils. Discrete coils were wound in a bunched or distributed fashion on a large diameter hollow right cylinder tube, commonly 65 centimeters in diameter or larger. Conventional bunched geometries include Maxwell or modified-Maxwell pair for z-gradient production and single or multi-arc Golay saddle coils for x and y gradient production. The coils are normally wound in a series arrangement and positioned to give a magnetic field profile with the desired linearity over a predefined volume. The distributive windings on the right angle cylinders are generally would and in pairs and driven anti-symmetrically. The coils are driven in an anti-symmetric manner such that only odd field derivatives are non-zero at the coil origin. The first derivative is the field gradient while the third and higher order derivatives represents distortion. If the diameter of the cylinder and coil placement are chosen properly, the third derivative is cancelled at the origin making the fifth derivative the first distortion term.
The conventional gradient coils are constructed of copper buss bar or multi-strand wire that is would on a glass reinforced plastic tube. The inductance, which is related to the stored magnetic energy, is critical in gradient coil design. The inductance relates to how quickly the coil can switch the gradient field on and off with a given supply of voltage. Large inductances, as are typical in wound cylindrical coils, limit the switching speed of the gradient magnetic fields.
For maximum efficiency, it would be advantageous to reduce the diameter of the gradient coil cylinders to be as close as possible to the subject, provided gradient linearity can be maintained. The required energy for field gradient production varies roughly as a fifth power of a gradient coil cylinder diameter in free space. In an actual magnetic resonance imager, the gradient coils interact with other adjoining structures such as radiation shields of superconducting magnets, making the relationship somewhat greater than the fifth power. Although reducing the coil size could have a dramatic effect on power consumption, reducing the cylinder diameter below 65 centimeters would be too restrictive to receive patients for full body scans. Although less power consumptive, a single planar surface gradient coil, by contrast, suffers from poor gradient uniformity or field linearity. Images using a single planar gradient coil require geometric distortion correction for head size volumes and larger.
In accordance with the present invention, a new and improved gradient coil configuration is provided which overcomes the above referenced problems and others.